Question

Edmund Halley was an English scientist who lived over 200years ago. He studied the observations of comets which other scientists had made. The orbit of one particular comet was a very difficult mathematical problem. He could not figure it out. Neither could other scientists who dealt with such problems.
However, Halley had a friend named Isaac Newton. Who was a brilliant mathematician. Newton thought he had already which he had done it. He told Halley that the orbit of a comet had the shape of an ellipse.
Now Halley set to work. He figured out the orbits of some of the comets that had been observed by scientist. He made a surprising discovery. The comets that had appeared in the years 1531, 1607 and 1682 all had the same orbit. Yet their appearances had been 75 to 76 years apart.
This seemed very strange to Halley. Three different comets followed the same orbit. The more Halley thought about it, the more he thought that there had not been three different comets, as people thought. He decided that they had simply seen the same comet three times. The comet had gone away and had come back again.
It was an astonishing idea! Halley felt certain enough to make a prediction of what would happen in the future. He decided that this comet would appear in the year 1758. There were 53 years to go before Halley’s prediction could be tested.
In 1758 the comet appeared in the sky. Halley did not see it, for he had died some years before. Ever since then that comet been called Halley’s comet, in his honor

1. 1.
   Halley made his discovery ______
   1. A.
      by doing experiments
   2. B.
      by means of his own careful observation
   3. C.
      by using the work of other scientists
   4. D.
      by chance
2. 2.
   Halley made a surprising but correct prediction in the year ________
   1. A.
      1704
   2. B.
      1705
   3. C.
      1706
   4. D.
      1707
3. 3.
   This text in general is about _______
   1. A.
      Halley and other scientists
   2. B.
      the orbit of a comet
   3. C.
      Newton and Halley
   4. D.
      Halley and Halley
4. 4.
   Which of the following is TRUE?
   1. A.
      Edmund Halley was an American scientist
   2. B.
      Halley made his discovery by doing experiments
   3. C.
      Isaac Newton was a famous mathematician
   4. D.
      The orbit of a comet had the shape of an around

Answer 1

CBDC
1.C 从第一段第一句话可以看出，哈雷的发现是在研究其他科学家的观察中得出的，其它选项与本文内容不符。
2.B 首先确定彗星下次出现的时间是1758年，然后确定这一事件距离他预测的时间是53年，再用1758减去53年就可以得出正确答案。
3.D 通读全文，就可以看出全文的大意，文章的每一段都在介绍哈雷及他的发现，另外也可以从文章的首尾句看出本文的主旨大意。
4.C 本文第一句话说哈雷是一个英国科学家，故A项是错误的；从第二句可以看出，哈雷的发现是在研究其他科学家观察的基础上得出的，所以B项是错误的；从第二段最后一句可得知哈雷彗星的轨道是椭圆形的，所以排除D项。本题题材还可以根据自己的常识来选出C项为正确答案。